Feb 13th 201X
by MillenniumFalkus
Summary: Toriel arrives home late after a PTA meeting, and overhears Frisk talking to Asgore. The old king is still feeling guilty and depressed, but Frisk comforts him spurred on by the promise she made... Slice of life/comfort fic First attempt at a fanfic in a LONG time xp originally posted on and based on a comic I posted on my blog /blog/milleniumfalkus Enjoy!


Toriel couldn't help but stifle a yawn as she stepped into the kitchen. As much as she loved teaching, these things humans called "PTA Meetings" never failed to tire her out. She walked over to the fridge, laid her purse down on the counter and fished the butterscotch cinnamon pie out of the fridge. It was entirely intact aside from one slice- the sheer size always seemed to intimidate Frisk into never taking more than was given to her. She smiled at the thought as she cut herself a slice and made herself some tea.

Golden Flower Tea.

She looked down at the pot for a moment as it brewed. She'd never gotten used to these new-fangled human teabags but they were surprisingly convenient. At least there were a few things humans could make without magic. The taste was the same, but its all-too-familiar scent that stirred her memory. She closed her eyes and dismissed it. She was too tired to waste brain space on _him_.

She was surprised the house was so quiet. Frisk had proved more than capable of looking after herself (she had traversed almost the entire Underground on her own) but that never stopped her friends volunteering to "babysit". She wondered why humans had such strange names for things; she would certainly not pay anyone to sit on her child!

At least some of the old crowd would be around most days of the week, either for dinner or to catch up with the week's events. Sans would often come just for a change from spaghetti, while Papyrus would always find some way to smuggle at least some into the house all no matter how hard they all tried to dissuade him. Alphys and Undyne would always have a movie or two to watch, while Frisk was slowly dispelling their skewed view on humanity with sources other than anime and cartoons. Undyne still remained thoroughly convinced it was real, despite all attempts to convince her otherwise.

Sans had volunteered to keep an eye socket out for Frisk tonight. He was probably napping on the couch.

Toriel smiled as she ate. Everyone loved Frisk. Even monsters who had only met her briefly seemed to love her. Even... certain monsters she didn't want to think about.

Asgore would appear from time to time, dragged along by the others or when Frisk asked to see him. He could never say no to her, and neither could Toriel. Even though there were bound to be embarrassing silences when they were in the same room. Then he would get awkward and smile like the big goofball he'd always been, scrubbing the back of his mane and almost bound to knock something over. She'd just try not to notice and get on with the evening. She'd moved on. They had both changed and were very different monsters now; except he hadn't changed at all.

Despite her animosity, she had been seeing a lot of the old king of monsters lately; at least, a lot more than she used to. She'd come across him and Frisk playing catch in the local park after school more than once (Asgore would always miss the ball and trip up over his own feet at the sight of her), walk her home from school (always making sure to wait just out of range of a fireball by the front door) and show her how to make her own blend of tea (although his fire magic would often flare up and make the pot boil over if he saw her watching). Toriel sighed. Frisk was her child, not his.

She couldn't understand why Frisk even spent time with him; it hadn't been that long ago Asgore had been prepared to kill her and take her soul. But then, all of their friends had tried to kill or at least capture Frisk at least once; so had most monsters in the Underground. Humans were strange creatures. She put the thought out of her mind with the last gulp of tea and bite of pie. She had better things to think about.

Tomorrow was the holiday what the humans called "Valen-times Day". She'd never come across it in any of her books, and Alphys had claimed to have come across a number of these "Valen-times" washed into the Garbage Dump (a lot of which were torn or blurred by what looked like tears as well as the waterfall) but it had seemed a simple enough custom when Frisk had explained it to them: a day where two humans would give each other cards saying that they loved each other, or exchanged gifts of flowers and chocolates. While a human baby with wings shot arrows at them.

She couldn't help but smile at the thought. It was such an endearing concept.

The group had made an unspoken agreement to each send Papyrus an "anonymous" card each so he wouldn't be disappointed by his own ego, and she'd helped both Undyne and Alphys pick out dresses for the date they were going to both try and surprise each other with. Sans had already said he'd send one to the greatest love of his life- doing absolutely nothing- but she couldn't be sure if he was joking or not. Toriel wanted to experience human traditions first hand ever since they'd come to the surface, and she was very excited about it, but she wasn't sure who to send hers to.

She liked Sans, but he was more of a close friend than a love interest. There was the one she'd send to Papyrus but she wanted her first human holiday to be as genuine as possible. She loved Frisk dearly, but the child had pointed out sending a "Valen-time" to your children wasn't generally acceptable. She smiled and cut another slice of pie. If Frisk was still awake, she'd ask for her advice over the late night snack.

She was adding some whipped cream to the top of the pie when she noticed her phone had a message waiting. It had been on silent throughout the meeting, and seemed to have arrived just after she'd left. It read:

hey t,

papyrus had a spaghetti-related emergency so i can't make it tonight. don't worry, i got someone to cover for me. tell the lil scamp i said hi. btw how does a grumpy skeleton spend his time? skull-king!

Toriel couldn't help but laugh at the joke as she climbed the stairs; Sans always made her laugh. Maybe she would send him a card after all...

She crossed the landing, and raised a paw to knock on Frisk's door. "Frisk, dear?" she whispered. "I brought you some-"

"...Hey, Asgore?"

"Yes, young one?"

Toriel's fist froze in mid air. Asgore? In her house? Alone with Frisk?!

Pure anger flared up inside Toriel, small flames already burning at the end of her claws. The nerve of him! Of all the help Sans could have picked! She didn't like having her ex-husband in her house at the best of times but never alone with her child! She grabbed the doorknob, ready to give him a piece of her mind along with a few fireballs, when Frisk spoke again.

"Are you sure you don't want to give mom a valentine?

Toriel's had froze again. Her anger and fury turned to shock.

"I... I don't think that would be wise."

Frisk sat up in bed in her pyjamas, looking up at the big boss monster sitting on her bedspread. Asgore stared into a corner of the room, great shaggy head hung and looking forlorn. It was hard not to feel sorry for him. She rearranged her blankets where Asgore had tucked her in a little too tightly. Despite his size and strength, he was always so gentle, treating her as if she were made of fine china or would break any moment. Asgore had been morose all evening, and it was easy to tell why.

"But why not?" she asked. "Don't you love her?"

Asgore sighed and looked at the wall. "Of course I do. I love Tori- sorry- I love your mother with all my heart and soul. But you know how your mother is, Frisk. She hates me. And she always will."Frisk opened her mouth to speak but a downcast look from Asgore silenced her. "Don't say it isn't true, young one. You know it. I know it. Every single monster under the sun knows it. I wouldn't be surprised if most humans new it either."

Asgore continued to stare at the wall, talking as much to it as to the young human. "I was the one who ordered that every human who fell into the Underground would have their souls taken. It was my fault the six children who came before you died. Toriel knew them, Frisk. She cared for and tried to protect them all. She tried to save them from me. And it's my fault they perished. I can never forgive myself for that. Not for as long as I live. I can hardly expect her to. "

He sniffed, and wiped his eyes on the back of his hand. Frisk, unsure of what to say, fished a handkerchief out of her bedside table and held it out to him. It was dwarfed in the former king's giant paw, but he took it all the same with a smile of gratitude. Dressed in a pink flower pattern shirt and sniffing into a handkerchief, he barely resembled the monster king she'd met at the very end of her journey. Frisk laid a hand on his big fuzzy arm. He was so different, but still the same.

It was a moment before Asgore continued.

"Like she said, I had the power to end it all once I had one soul; crossed the barrier and taken six souls from the humans on the surface and freed my people peacefully. But I couldn't even do that. I was supposed to bring my people hope. But I failed them because I was a coward. I kept everyone trapped, living in despair while I tended my garden, blindly hoping no more humans would come. If I'd done just one little thing from the beginning none of the others would have had to die and my people would have been free."

Frisk gripped his arm, gently stroking through his smooth white fur. It struck her just how old Asgore seemed to look. The boss monster hadn't aged at all since they'd returned to the surface, and never would according to Gerson; but right now he seemed smaller, wearier and his face appeared far more lined than when they'd first met ins spite of his fur. It was impossible not to notice the deep age in his eyes, now glassy as he stared at the wall no doubt lost in his impossibly long memory. He'd lived long before the war and the erection of the barrier and for countless years had been striving for the freedom of his kind while he outlived most if not all of his people. But even now, with monsters living happily in peace amongst humans once more, he still seemed to carry to weight of the world on his shoulders. His depression almost physically aged him.

"But that wouldn't have worked, either."

Asgore blinked, sitting up from his slump. He had been so lost in his own world he may very well have forgotten she was there at all. He stared at her, expression still downcast, his brow wrinkled in confusion. But Frisk pressed on; filled with determined not to let him beat himself up any further.

"Going through the barrier wouldn't have solved anything. If anything, it probably would have made things worse. You'd still have had to kill six human and that would have made returning peacefully impossible. Humanity and monsters would be at war again. You can never achieve peace through murder."

Asgore blinked, still gazing down at her, as he weighed the thought in his mind. "A young philosopher as well as an ambassador." He finally said at last with a small smile. Frisk smiled back encouragingly, gripping the great furry forearm a little more firmly.

"You didn't want to hurt anyone, Asgore. You never did. Even when you had the chance to finish everything, take my soul and destroy the barrier, you didn't want to fight me even though you had to." She squeezed a little harder; reminding Asgore that he'd once been prepared to kill her wasn't the best way of consoling him. "I'm not saying what you did was perfect. But you wanted your people to have hope, and you gave it to them when they needed it most. That's why you were loved, and still are, by your people. You never killed if you could avoid it. You never wanted power or revenge. You wanted peace."

"That is very kind of you to say, young one. But I did. I wanted to avenge the death of my son and make those who took him from me pay for inflicting all the more misery upon us. That's what started everything. It was my anger and hatred that made me declare war on humanity... and it was that same anger that drove Toriel away from me." Asgore turned his great head, staring into space once again. "It was only after she'd left I'd calmed down enough to realise my mistake. Striking back at humanity would not bring Asriel back. I'd lost my whole family and I couldn't even hold my wife while we grieved. I've never regretted anything so much in my life, Frisk. If I could take it all back, I'd give anything and everything to put it right...even if it destroyed me."

Frisk gently took his great paw in her hand, squeezing gently. If only he knew what it was truly like to go back and try again; to Reset. She'd only met two others who were aware of the manipulation of the timelines, and neither had escaped their experiences completely unscathed. And she was no exception. The memories of being forced to fight the king, and watching his soul shattering were still there, as was the guilt of being ultimately responsible for his death... even though it had been Flowey who had delivered the killing blow... even though it had now never happened.

"Everyone makes bad choices when they're upset or stressed," she said gently. "It's just how we are; monsters and humans both. But you realised it was the wrong choice and tried to correct it. You got Alphys to try and find a way to break the barrier with what you already had. I know it was hard, I really do. The choices we have to make are always harder than those we can choose to make.

"Don't worry about what you can't change, it's all in the past now. Your people are free now and the entire world is open to monsters now; a bright new future of peace. The souls are free now and at peace. Everyone deserves a second chance, especially those who feel they don't deserve one. You need to stop dwelling on the past or you definitely won't have a future. You need to forgive yourself and move on, Asgore."

Asgore took her small hand in his, his great palm dwarfing her entire hand as he gently squeezed back. "You are incredibly wise for one so young," he said with a small smile.

"I learned from the best," Frisk sat up, taking Asgore's arm, almost as thick as her body, in a tight hug. That... and reliving the same life time and time again as she strove to obtain a happy ending for everyone she loved. Only one of her friends still needed his.

"You once promised me the three of us could be like a family. I made a promise, too; that I'd take care of both mom and you."

"When did I-?" Asgore's brow crinkled in confusion, and then surprised. "Who did-?"

"Let's just say someone who cares about you both very much," Frisk hugged the great fuzzy arm a little tighter. Sometimes she forgot not every monster retained memories from alternate timelines."I'll keep my promise... if you keep yours, dad."

"Frisk..." Asgore felt his heart skip a beat, tears swelling in his eyes. "W-what did you call m-me?"

"I called you dad," Frisk smiled, hugging the great monster even tighter. "You're Mr. Dad Guy; you're Mr. Fluffybuns... you're MY dad."

The boss monster's huge arms wrapped around her, holding her tight against his chest in what had to be the warmest, fluffiest hug Frisk had ever had in her life. Asgore's whole body shook, great tears rolling down his face. But the great furry face was smiling as he blinked back tears, still taking great care to be gentle with her. Frisk buried her face in his shoulder, hugging back as best she could despite her arms not reaching either side of his chest. Asgore shook with emotion, sniffling a little as he held the child he'd come to love as his own.

"My child..." he finally managed to whisper through a choked sob.

"Do you promise, dad?"

"I promise, my little Frisk..." Asgore pulled leaned down and gently kissed her cheek. "Thank you... for giving this old goat a second chance."

Frisk smiled and giggled. Asgore's beard and fur was incredibly ticklish. "You're incredibly fluffy, dad," she smiled as she kissed him back on the cheek, one of his large ears flopping on top of her head."

"It's especially "fur" cuddles, my child."

Frisk groaned. "Oh, that was bad!"

"No it wasn't; it was "dad"." Asgore chuckled, dabbing his eye with the handkerchief. "See, you smiled!"

Asgore couldn't remember a time when he'd felt happier in years; not even the day he and his kind has finally returned to the surface and the seven of them had finally seen the sun seemed to compare right now. He'd spent so many years alone he'd almost forgotten what it was like to have a family; to feel genuinely happy again. He ruffled Frisk's hair smiling down at her. She'd saved the entire underground, shown monsters that there were good humans in the world, and given him back something he'd thought he'd lost a long time ago. He was a father again; he had gained back a small piece of the family he'd lost.

And now he had hope of getting another piece back.

After a while, Frisk pulled back a little and looked up at him with a smile. "Do you want me to help you write mom's card, dad?"

"I would love that, my little Frisk."

On the other side of the door, Toriel got to her feet, and wiped a tear from her eye. The slice of pie lay half eaten on its plate, the surface damped with several tears. She turned to leave, smiling as she returned to the kitchen.

"You're a very lucky monster, Asgore. If Frisk can love you, I suppose..." she smiled to herself as she sat down at the kitchen table.

Asgore smiled down at the sleeping child as he gently tucked her into bed. It had taken several hours to finally decide on what to put on the small red piece of card in his paw; a large number of crumpled up cards had ended up in the trashcan being declared "too soppy" or "too dense". It had been difficult not to poor his heart out into it, but as Frisk had pointed out, there was only so much room on one piece of paper for the words to still be legible. She had fallen asleep shortly after they'd finally decided what to write, still sat on his knee while he made the finishing touches.

It had been their first father-daughter project together.

He leant down and kissed her cheek, making her giggle in her sleep. He reminded himself she had no fur of her own- any kiss was going to be ticklish. Not that she minded; if anything she enjoyed it! Humans were funny like that.

He crossed the room on tiptoes, taking one last look at her before closing the door as quietly as he could behind him. "Sweet dreams, my little Frisk,"

He crept along the landing and down the stairs, taking great care not to make any noise. He didn't think the card in his paw would stop a cranky Toriel from throwing fireballs at him if he disturbed her. He made his way to the kitchen, the lights still on, and placed the card on the breakfast table. He looked at it for a moment, half wondering whether he should forget the whole thing and take it home. She might tear it up, or burn it, or throw fireballs at him for having the nerve to still be in love her. But then, she might not. And Frisk had promised not to let it out of her sight until his feelings were heard.

He yawned and stretched, a glance at the clock telling him it was well past 2am in the morning. The nights were cold at this time of year, but enjoyed taking a stroll under the stars. He'd dreamed of seeing them for so long he couldn't help but be fascinated by the night sky. He'd promised to take Frisk stargazing one day, and he wanted to at least try learning the constellations before then.

A father was supposed to teach his daughter about the world, not the other way around. But then... she was a very wise child. Tonight's events had more than proved that.

He noticed the living room lights were still on, and went to glance inside before turning them off. The room looked so much like the one they'd shared all those years ago back in the castle. The little fireplace, bookshelf filled to the brim with books ( Toriel had recently bolstered her collection with new volumes from the Underground and Surface), the cosy armchair and table... everything was almost exactly the same. Apparently, Toriel's abode back in the Ruins had had the exact same layout. He smiled a little. Despite all her anger towards him, she'd still made her home almost identical to the one they'd shared. Maybe one day it would be truly as it had been...

The only thing different was a large couch across the back wall. It was normally reserved for when guests came over, but tonight it was made up with pillows and blankets. Asgore blinked in surprise and approached it slowly. Why was a bed set up?

For the second time that evening, he felt his heart skip a beat and tears fill his eyes. On the table behind the vase of golden flowers sat a plate with a large piece of butterscotch cinnamon pie and an envelope, which he picked up with trembling fingers. It read:

Happy Valentine's Day, Fluffybuns.


End file.
